Guidance on next steps - Witness Statement Submission

B789

BBL70 said:
Today's numpty question - how does the Witness Statement and Defence differ?

Looking at the example Witness Statements I was originally directed to, these are very comprehensive both in terms of the specific circumstances and the relevent points of law. What in addition should the defence cover?

The defence is the hook that you will later hang your witness statement on. Basically the defence should be a brief note of the legal points you will base your arguments on when you later provide your witness statement.

The defence is written in the third person and no evidence goes with the defence.

Your witness statement will flesh out all your points in your defence and is written in the first person. You cannot introduce any new points that were not in your defence. This is why the template defence has so many paragraphs and will cover just about anything you need to later relay on in your witness statement.

BBL70

B789 said:

BBL70 said:
Today's numpty question - how does the Witness Statement and Defence differ?

Looking at the example Witness Statements I was originally directed to, these are very comprehensive both in terms of the specific circumstances and the relevent points of law. What in addition should the defence cover?

The defence is the hook that you will later hang your witness statement on. Basically the defence should be a brief note of the legal points you will base your arguments on when you later provide your witness statement.

The defence is written in the third person and no evidence goes with the defence.

Your witness statement will flesh out all your points in your defence and is written in the first person. You cannot introduce any new points that were not in your defence. This is why the template defence has so many paragraphs and will cover just about anything you need to later relay on in your witness statement.

Thank You - then Yes, perhaps I need to relook at my defence. Do I 'Start the end in mind' and build the WS first, then summarise into an ammended defence?

Coupon-mad

Wait...did you use our template defence?

If not, use that.  Sticky thread, top of the forum.

B789

BBL70 said:
Thank You - then Yes, perhaps I need to relook at my defence. Do I 'Start the end in mind' and build the WS first, then summarise into an ammended defence?

No. As @Coupon-mad has pointed out and as the Newbies thread tells you, you use the defence template and just amend paras 2 & 3 to your circumstances. If you need to add extra paragraphs, you need to renumber all following paragraphs sequentially.

Template in the Newbies thread is the one to use but there are several others we are recommeding you use and adapt as appropriate such as the one from @aphex007 which is a complete WS bundle.

BBL70

Coupon-mad said:

Wait...did you use our template defence?

If not, use that.  Sticky thread, top of the forum.

No - will go and look at that now

Coupon-mad

Aha!  New defence then.  Perfect!

BBL70

Coupon-mad said:

Aha!  New defence then.  Perfect!

Not so perfect as I have to have them completed in the next few days - but am grateful at least to be in the right track! 😀

BBL70

If I wanted to post my Defence/Witness Statement documents here for review and feedback a) Is there value in this if I am working from the templates and b) should I redact?

Coupon-mad

Just show us the bits you add to:

- the Template Defence (show us paras 2 & 3)

- the WS by @aphex007 (change the early paragraphs to your own story and remove anything in the second half that is repeating the template defence verbatim.  I am aware there is overlap, so remove duplicated paras from the WS).

This can all be done in an hour or two because both are templates, not much for you to add or cull.

BBL70

Amended Defence Document - Paragraphs 2 & 3

2. It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle, but not the driver at the time referred to in the claim.

3. On the 10th July 2019 the driver parked at the site in order to visit Tesco Express. As Tesco Express is a small, local store the duration of the visit to the site is estimated to be approx. 10-15 minutes. Nothing at the time suggested to the driver (e.g. new signs, yellow lines or advice from a parking enforcement officer) that it was not acceptable to park in this location. Based on previous experience the driver assumed that this part of the car park formed part of the ‘A Designated Parking Area’ mentioned in the parking signs. At the time there were no parking enforcement cameras at this location and so the photographs submitted by the claimant can only have been taken by someone working for, or associated with the claimant. This suggests that no grace period was offered, and no attempt was made by this individual to advise the driver of their potential error. The PCN was subsequently received by post, on or around 15th July 2019. After receiving the PCN it was confirmed at the time that there is no indication beside the kerb that parking is not allowed and that parking there caused no obstruction to other visitors.